BitCraft Online News

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Hello all!

As you all already know, we have always wanted BitCraft Online to be a free-to-play game in the final release, in order to make it as accessible to as many people as possible.

In order to be able to launch BitCraft Online out of Beta/Steam Early Access and into a full release we need to begin selling more cosmetics and skins to test our free-to-play monetization plans for the game. Selling skins and other cosmetics is critical to the game’s long-term viability and for its continuing development. Thus far those cosmetics have been restricted solely to the empire system via the Hexite Shards (more fun stuff to come here too, I know a lot of you have been asking for things like empire banners), but we’d like to start selling character scale cosmetics as well.[/p][p][/p][p]In accordance with our monetization philosophy, it will still be the case that clothing, skins, decorations, pets, and other cosmetics which are earnable only through playing the game, will not be purchasable directly from our store. For example, skill outfits in BitCraft. It would be pretty lame (and defeat the purpose) if you could just buy them from us. Of course, while not all cosmetics will be items/tradeable, if an item is tradeable that doesn’t prevent you from buying it from another player for in-game currency or items.[/p][p][/p][p]However, we also want to sell some fun cosmetics and decorations to players so they can make their characters and settlements fit their vision for what they want in the game, while also supporting the development of the game.

We’d like to try out selling our first cosmetic in-game this Halloween, and it’s a fun one! We will shortly be introducing a new cat pet for you all! Most of the cats will be acquireable in-game, but on October 31st we are going to be selling a single-run, Pumpkin cat skin, inspired by my own orange pet cat, Pumpkin!

We will be selling Pumpkin from October 31st, 2025 - November 6th, 2025, HOWEVER we have decided to bring him back at least another time after the full-release of the game to give players who have spent their in-game shards a chance to purchase Pumpkin without needing to purchase more shards now. If you are in that situation you can either buy more shards and buy him now, or wait for full release. This ensures that anyone who purchased the beta on Steam will be able to get Pumpkin without buying more shards.
[/p][p]Importantly, if you buy this cosmetic he will be added to your Hub account which will persist after the wipe! All Hub account items will be granted to your character after the full-release wipe, so if he’s in your Hub account, you will get him back after the wipe!

We decided that it would be too confusing and just generally not a great experience to purchase a cosmetic for just the Beta period. Likewise, we’ve decided to disable trading for Pumpkin for the duration of the Beta, although Pumpkin will be tradeable in the full release of the game. Players will not be limited in the number of Pumpkins they can purchase, as we do not want to encourage people to create multiple accounts to buy multiple Pumpkin skins.

We thought this would be a fun way to introduce the cat pets while giving those of you who are fans of my cat Pumpkin to buy something fun and very thematic for Halloween!

Pumpkin will be 7,500 Hexite shards and will be purchasable in game on October 31st, 2025. Be sure to log in if you want the chance to buy him![/p][p]
Hope you all have a spooky Halloween, and check out our Halloween event!

Sincerely,[/p][p]
3Blave (Tyler, Cofounder of Clockwork Labs)[/p]

[h2]More Seasonal Content,
[/h2][p]This week's update brings some more seasonal content, this time of the spooky variety. We've added some new uses for your pumpkins to make them a bit more festive as well as a new furniture set for your house.[/p][p]We also wanted to clarify that the fall seasonal resources (sunflowers and pumpkins) will be respawning from Oct 09 - Nov 20, after which they will slowly be let to go extinct as what's left is gathered.[/p][p]Beyond the resources themselves, no recipes will be removed so any items still in circulation can be used to craft even after the event has ended.

[/p][h2]Custom Chat Channels,
[/h2][p]This is something we've been working on for a while and it took some time to get it working properly. This is the first version of a system which allows players to create their own chat channels to make communicating with groups of friends possible, and allows for you to more easily form larger group chats, be it for a settlement, an empire or just some shared interests.[/p][p]Currently you are able to own/administrate only 1 chat channel, but can be a member of up to 5. We will likely expand this in the future, but this limit allowed us to keep the current UI relatively unchanged. [/p][p]Like whispers, these custom channels are not automoderated, however reports are still acted on and the community guidelines still apply. We hope that this gives players a space to take banter with their friends or townmates, without clogging up region chat, and without the risk of getting auto-muted.[/p][p]We'll be listening to your feedback to decide how to evolve this feature going forward. We have a lot of ideas of how to expand to make it better but wanted to get the first version in your hands to hear what you think and see how it ends up being used.
[/p][h2]More Quality of life,
[/h2][p]We also have a few more highly requested quality of life features, including the ability to change the bind for (or unbind) moving on the map. Another nice one is the ability to see the wind direction near your minimap.
[/p][h2]
Patch Notes


Added,[/h2]

• [p]Halloween decorations and collectibles,[/p]
• [p]Gothic furniture set,[/p]
• [p]A new type of pet,[/p]
• [p]Private chat channels,[/p]
• [p]Separate keybind for moving on the map,[/p]
• [p]More stats to deployable tooltips,[/p]
• [p]Wind indicator next to the minimap,
  [/p]

[h3]Changed,[/h3]

• [p]Dungeon icons on the map now show the dungeon's name and tier,[/p]
• [p]'Fill deployables first' inventory setting to 'Disable auto-pickup', [/p]
  • [p]Because of the confusion around the inventory setting changes we reverted the functionality to what it was on the server and we'll consider more what the best solution here is. [/p][p]The intent was to give the option to go hunting without a deployable and have loot drop on the ground so it wouldn't slow you down by going on your back. However we are listening to player feedback and this was clearly confusing and had side effects that we hadn't considered.[/p][p]The UI will still show the new text until a new client is available later today.[/p][p]With regards to the barter stall change we are investigating a bug where market mode orders aren't showing up anymore after the update (they should have been showing as 2 distinct orders) and will look into ways to preserve old functionality like having 0-cost orders. [/p]
• [p]When a siege on a watchtower starts, all marks for siege are now removed,[/p]
• [p]Market-mode on barter stalls has been discontinued in favor of the marketplace,[/p]
• [p]Pumpkin and sunflower hats are now tradeable,
  [/p]

[h3]Fixed,[/h3]

• [p]Not being able to interact with entities when the cursor is over a cliff,[/p]
• [p]Being able to phase through obstacles with deployables,[/p]
• [p]Position of the waystone not being updated on other regions after being moved inside the claim,[/p]
• [p]Deployable’s inventory window closing after picking up dropped items[/p]

[p]
Hello everyone!,
The cozy winds of autumn have arrived, bringing golden leaves, harvest season… and spooky Halloween vibes! This fall, we’re hosting a Seasonal Settlement / Claim Showcase Recording Session and we’d love for YOU to be part of it!

[/p][h2]Theme,[/h2][p][/p]

• [p] Show us your autumn-inspired builds and creativity!
  [/p]
• [p] Cozy Fall Settlements, Haunted Halloween Towns,
  [/p]
• [p] Thanksgiving-Themed Communities, Player Community Event,
  [/p]
• [p] Pumpkin Villages,
  [/p]

[p]
Or your own creative storyline themed around autumn!
Settlement showcases are welcome, but story-driven showcase ideas are also encouraged and feel free to get creative!


[/p][h2]Recording Details,[/h2][p]Dates: October 25th – 30th
Video will be uploaded to the official BitCraft YouTube channel For reference, check out previous recording sessions from BitCraft Alpha & Demo great memories with our players!

[dynamiclink][/dynamiclink] [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink] [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink] [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]How to Join,[/h2][p]If you’d like to participate, please send an email to [email protected]! We’ll discuss your idea and find a time to record together.

Let’s celebrate the magic of autumn together in BitCraft! We can’t wait to see your creativity and seasonal spirit

Thank you![/p]

[h3] Hey travelers!
[/h3][p] We’re thrilled to announce that the BitCraft Lo-Fi Radio is going LIVE for the very first time on YouTube today!

Take a moment to unwind with Rumbagh’s stories and Svim’s songs. Whether you’re studying, building, or simply exploring your thoughts, this one’s for you.

Where: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]
[/p]

[h3]
Hello everyone,
[/h3][p]We had a larger social feature we were hoping to have ready this week, but it needs a bit more time in the oven. We are hoping to get it to you all in the next week or two.
[/p][h3]Cart Off-Roading,[/h3][p]A few weeks ago we began making changes to bring carts and wagons into our vision of having carts be optimal for gathering, while wagons are optimal for hauling. This is reflected in their current stats and we will be continuing to refine that. This week we are adding some new functionality to strengthen this archetype for carts by allowing you to gather from your cart without dismounting.[/p][p]Additionally all carts, wagons and mounts can now be taken into shallow water which should make navigation much easier. We will be looking for cases where it makes sense to take this new logic even further in the future (swimming mounts?).[/p][p][/p][h3]More info on Fall and seasonal content,[/h3][p]We also wanted to provide some more info on the previously added Fall content as well as how future content will also function.[/p][p]During seasonal events new resources, items and collectibles can be found and obtained. At the end of the event, sources for these items will stop spawning but existing ones will stay in the world until gathered. We will be communicating at least 2 weeks in advance when seasonal content is ending. Our current plan is to leave the Fall content up until late November. We will announce the exact end date in the near future [/p][p][/p][h3]Other Quality of Life,[/h3][p]This update brings some other simple but impactful quality of life improvements, like enabling you to bulk sell items to travelers, this is particularly useful for selling flotsam treasure to Svim. This also enables bulk buying cargo from travelers which can be useful for buying supplies cargo.[/p][p]Next a highly requested feature was the ability to bulk unpack packaged cargo. This is now possible at the same station where the packaging is done in addition to the ability to unpack a single package from your back.[/p][p]Finally we made some small improvements and temporary changes to the marketplace to make things a little better until we have a chance to make some larger changes based on community feedback. The main change you will notice here is that the quantity always starts at 0 which prevents you from accidentally processing an order before you have checked the values. They will be changed when some of the more holistic changes are ready to be both clearer and more smooth.
[/p][h2]
Patch Notes[/h2][p][/p][h3]Added,[/h3]

• [p]Gathering resource while driving a cart,[/p]
• [p]Max button to quantity input fields,[/p]
• [p]Additional boat animations and VFX that respond to the wind,[/p]
• [p]Crafting recipes to unpack packaged items,[/p]
• [p]Allowing deployables to move in shallow water,[/p]
• [p]Four new boat variants,
  [/p]

[h3]Changed,[/h3]

• [p]Marketplace UI buy/sell starts at a quantity of 0 and shows the total price on the button, [/p]

[h3]Fixed,[/h3]

• [p]Waystones not always being deleted on other regions,[/p]
• [p]Banks, waystones and marketplaces not always showing up on the map,[/p]
• [p]Ramparte and Terratoad visuals,[/p]
• [p]Not being able to trade multiple items with travelers in some cases,[/p]
• [p]Not being able to extract a resource on land while swimming,[/p]
• [p]Inventory drop action not refreshing after moving,[/p]
• [p]Jakyl Dens not always being despawned correctly, causing large amounts of Jakyls in an area,[/p]
• [p]Marketplace UI showing categories with no items,[/p]
• [p]Marketplace UI showing items from other categories, e.g. 'Leather Clothing' in the 'Leather' category,[/p]
• [p]Claim supply timer not aligning with the server when taking ownership of a claim[/p]

[h3]
Extra Changes[/h3][p][/p][p]We're releasing a small patch that will address some of the concerns that were raised after the update we released earlier today:[/p][p][/p]

• [p]Windrider clipper and cargo clipper now both require 50 sailing to craft and use tier 5 materials,[/p]
• [p]Fishing ship and cargo ship now both require 80 sailing to craft and use tier 8 materials,[/p]
• [p]Ship now has 15 cargo slots[/p]